Release International

Thousands of Christians took to the streets in several Vietnamese cities after police and thugs launched vicious attacks on two pastors caught up in a row over an historic church.

Pastor Peter Nguyen The Binh was beaten and then thrown from a second-floor hospital window in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province, about 200 miles south of Hanoi. Pastor Peter had been at the bedside of another pastor, Pastor Paul Nguyen Dinh Phu, who had been severely injured in an assault a short while earlier.

Both church leaders are said now to be in a serious condition. Pastor Peter is in a coma, and Pastor Paul has been left with several broken ribs and head and facial injuries.

The attacks on the two pastors are the latest episode in an ongoing dispute between police and Christians in Dong Hoi's Vinh diocese. Christians are protesting against officials' plans to turn an historic, ruined church at Tam Toa into a memorial to the Vietnam War, during which the church was bombed by the US.

The local church wants to rebuild the church and worship there again. Several Christians were injured last month when they clashed with police during a protest.

Pastor Paul was on his way to a church service to mark the start of a peaceful protest over those beatings when he was attacked on July 26. He tried to intervene when he saw plainclothes police attacking three women who were also on their way to the service. Police turned their aggression onto Pastor Paul when they saw he was a pastor. He says that at least 30 uniformed police officers witnessed the assault and did nothing to stop it. Pastor Paul was taken to hospital by friends.

AsiaNews service reports that police and gangs of thugs are attacking anyone in Vinh wearing a religious symbol. Thousands of Christians are said to have fled Dong Hoi.

(Source: AsiaNews)

• Ask God to heal and restore Pastor Peter and Pastor Paul.
• Pray that Tam Toa will once again be a place of Christian worship.

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